


Making Up

by Joe_Reaves



Series: Jealousy [3]
Category: Primeval
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, M/M, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-15
Updated: 2010-04-15
Packaged: 2017-10-08 23:25:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/80577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joe_Reaves/pseuds/Joe_Reaves
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Can Nick fix his mistake?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Making Up

When he woke up the next morning after a fitful night's sleep, Nick realised he was being stupid. The only evidence he had that Stephen was sleeping with Helen was Helen's word and was he really going to take that over Stephen's? He thought back to the hurt look on the man's face when he'd accused Stephen of cheating on him and the way he'd rolled over and looked so miserable after Nick had thrown his declaration of love back in his face. At the time it had seemed like he was in the right but now in the cold light of day and after one night without Stephen, Nick knew he hadn't been. Far from being the injured party he'd been arrogant and cruel and the exact opposite of everything he'd planned to be when he walked into that room.

He scrambled into his clothes and drove to the hospital, hoping Stephen would at least let him drive him home and that the journey would give him the time he needed to grovel and beg for another chance. Helen had always known exactly how to push his buttons and he was sure she'd known how he felt about Stephen. The way she'd looked right at him when she'd talked about falling for your student had been a big clue. So why had he let her wind him up like that? She couldn't be trusted yet he'd let her play on his doubts about how seriously Stephen took their relationship until he wasn't making any sense any more and then when Stephen had shown exactly how serious he was he'd thrown it back at him and walked away.

He looked into Stephen's room at the hospital and found it empty. A smile and a few softly spoken words got one of the nurses to talk to him and she told him Stephen had left earlier that morning in a taxi. Alone. Sighing and kicking himself for not getting there sooner he drove over to Stephen's place, relieved to see his car in the space downstairs. At least he knew Stephen hadn't gone anywhere. He took a deep breath to try and get up some courage and then took the lift to Stephen's flat.

At first he thought Stephen wasn't answering because he was still angry at him but when he peered through the letterbox he could see his bag on the couch but no sign of life inside. He glanced at the weather through the window at the end of the floor and cursed. Surely Stephen wouldn't have gone out in this?

After searching the nearby streets for anywhere Stephen might have gone he finally, tracked him down by the river near his block of flats. He was leaning on the railings overlooking the river and staring out across it, the rain turning his blue shirt almost black and his hair plastered to his head. Nick grabbed a coat and got out of the car, running towards him.

"You damn fool! What do you think you're doing?" he shouted, raising his voice to be heard over the storm. "You're only just out of the hospital. Are you trying to make yourself sick?" He tried to wrap the coat around Stephen's shoulders and was pushed back as Stephen raised an arm to ward him off.

"I promise I won't get a cold and collapse while we're investigating one of your precious anomalies," Stephen snapped. "Don't you have anything better to do than follow me around?"

"No," Nick said a little more quietly, moving as close as he dared so that they could talk without shouting at each other. "I can't think of anything I have to do that's more important than getting you out of the rain and back home where you belong." He sighed and looked out over the river, afraid to meet Stephen's eyes. "I'm sorry. I overreacted when I saw Helen there. She was just trying to cause trouble again and I let her. I should have trusted you."

Stephen turned to look at him, studying his profile as he looked down at the dark waters of the Thames. "Was that an apology?" he asked, trying to understand what had changed between last night and this morning.

"Yeah, yeah it was," Nick said, glancing over at him, his eyes full of regret. "I had no right to talk to you like that, Stephen. I know you're not the kind of person to cheat on anyone. With them obviously," he added with a wry smile. "But you wouldn't do that to someone you're seeing and I'm so very sorry for what I said yesterday."

Stephen twisted the corner of his mouth up in an attempt at a smile. "I guess I deserved it. I should have told you when she came back, but I knew you'd be upset and I couldn't just leave her to bleed on my bathroom floor so I helped her and let her stay for a few hours. I'm sorry, Nick. I didn't mean to hurt you again."

Nick turned to face him and ran his hand through Stephen's hair, resting it at the back of his neck. "You didn't, did you?" he admitted. "Helen did and I let her. I shouldn't have believed anything she said. And you didn't deserve to be treated like that. Helen played me, got me wound up and convinced me you didn't take our relationship seriously. I should have known better but I let her push my buttons and twist everything until I couldn't see straight." He pulled back and smiled hopefully at him. "Let me take you home, Stephen. You're going to get sick out here."

Stephen rested his forehead against Nick's. "Only if you're going to stay and keep me warm." He smiled and kissed Nick briefly, just a brush of lips to assure them both that everything was going to be fine. "I think on the grand scale of things my screw ups still outweigh yours."

Nick wrapped the coat around him and urged him towards the car. "How about from now on we make a concerted effort not to let my wife get between us? This is the last time we let her hurt us. I know you don't like refusing when people need help but you can't trust her. She's dangerous and she used your weakness for her to try and hurt you. If we hadn't have been together I might not have come to my senses until it was too late. She's trying to put us at each other's throats."

"She's up to something, Nick," Stephen said, leaning into his touch. "I don't know what it is and it worries me but she wouldn't have done that on a whim. She has a plan."

"Whatever it is we'll figure it out together, the whole team," Nick promised. "But for now I'm going to take you back to my place where she can't pick the locks because I have better security than you do and I'm going to make sure you get plenty of rest. You need to recover from your injuries."

Stephen snuggled closer as they walked towards the car, both so wet already that it didn't seem worth the effort of hurrying. "Nick, I know this is probably not the time to bring this up, but I meant what I said in the hospital. About how I feel about you. And I can't handle you doing this every time Helen decides she's in the mood to be a bitch again. You have to trust me and God knows I probably don't deserve it after everything but if you do this again I'm leaving."

Nick felt his chest get tighter at the thought of Stephen leaving. He turned to face him, resting his hand on his neck again and looking into his eyes, trying to show Stephen how serious he was. "I am so sorry for everything I said last night Stephen. She played on every single doubt I have about you and about us. I worry that I'm too old for you, that you'd rather be with someone who can be public about your relationship, that I'm somehow a substitute for Helen." He smiled self mockingly. "Not to mention that Helen used to complain our sex life was boring, but she described you as being adventurous and great in bed, which didn't exactly do wonders for my ego. I worry about you getting bored and moving on and what I should have done was ask you about Helen, let you explain, and then tell you I was scared of losing you, but I'm an idiot and I don't like to talk about my feelings so I yelled at you instead. It doesn't mean you don't deserve my trust, it just means I'm a moron sometimes and you need to beat some sense into me."

Stephen wrapped his arms around him and pulled him close. "This mess is as much my fault as yours. I didn't tell you how I felt before because I had my own doubts. We need to learn to communicate in a way that doesn't involve screaming matches or hot sex. Not that I mind the hot sex but it's not going to be enough if we aren't honest with each other." He wrinkled his nose. "I don't exactly talk about my feelings much either. We're guys, we don't do that." He pulled back to look at Nick. "We have to start."

Nick pulled him close again and kissed him, slowly, letting the rain cascade over both of them as they concentrated on each other. "For the record I love you too, Stephen Hart, and I am not going to let anyone, especially Helen, tear us apart. If it means both of us having to get over our reluctance and actually talk then that's what we're going to do, preferably over a curry and a pint just in case all this touchy feely emotional stuff is too much for us," he added with a small smile.

"Deal," Stephen said, smiling back. "Beer, curry, football on the telly, and an honest conversation about what we want and how we feel. And next time Helen turns up we tell her to go to hell."

Nick nodded and opened the car door. "Now get in. I'm taking you home and drying you out so we can have that conversation without you catching your death out here." He pushed on Stephen's shoulder and encouraged him to sit down. "And then I'm going to spend some serious time making up for the fact I'm an idiot, because no matter what you say, this was my fault, not yours, and I'm going to need to grovel for at least a couple of weeks before I stop feeling bad about it."

Stephen smiled and reached up to squeeze the hand resting on his shoulder. "I can handle some grovelling, Nick, and I'll even let you buy the beer and take out to start you off." He winked and Nick laughed, relaxing properly for the first time since he'd seen Stephen's empty bed at the hospital.

"Done," he said with a smile. "And thank you, for forgiving me. I won't make you regret it."

Stephen looked up at him seriously, thinking about his affair with Helen and how Nick had reacted when he found out. "Everyone deserves a second chance sometimes."


End file.
